9th November, 2016
As at 6:53am, Trump has won 244 out of the 270 electoral college, while Hilary Clinton, the favourite is trailing as she had 215 electoral college.
There is depression in Clinton’s camp as supporters are weeping in the aftermath of electoral downfall of their mentor.
It seems like only yesterday that Clinton supporters were talking about a “landslide victory”, but tonight’s close result has proven them wrong.
Trump is only 26 electoral votes away from securing the 270 needed to be American president.
Republican Donald Trump wins the key states of Florida, Ohio and North Carolina, while Hillary Clinton wins Virginia as counting continues across America. A final result is expected after midnight (05:00 GMT).
Could Hillary Clinton win the popular vote but lose the electoral college? It’s entirely possible.
Polling guru Nate Silver has been warning about the possibility for months, noting that support for Clinton is strong in all the wrong places. She does well in states like Texas and Georgia, outperforming Obama’s support by impressive margins, but not enough to win.
In the winner-takes-all contest that is the electoral college, coming in a close second is worth exactly zero electoral votes.
Combine that with Clinton winning big in high-population states like California, and it’s enough create a situation where she can pull in large numbers of voters across the US – but not enough votes in the right places.
That could mean that come Wednesday, most Americans have voted for Clinton, but it’s Trump who takes the top prize.